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BODHISATTVA (Pali: Bodhisatta) is a being
who aspires for Bodhi or Enlightenment. The concept of bodhisattva
(meaning Buddha-to-be) is one of the most important concepts in Buddhism.
Etymologically the term can be separated into two parts,
bodhi and
sattva:
bodhi from the root
budh, to be awake, means
'awakening' or 'enlightenment' and 'sattva'
derived from sant, the present
participle of the root as, 'to
be', means 'a being' or, literally, 'one who is', 'a sentient being.'
Hence, the term is taken to mean 'one whose essence is Enlightenment' or
'enlightened knowledge'. By implication it means a seeker after
enlightenment, a Buddha-to-be. There is also a suggestion that the Pali
term may be derived from bodhi and
satta, (Skt.
sakta from
sanj) 'one who is attached to or
desires to gain enlightenment.'

In original Pali Buddhism, the term
bodhisatta is used more or less exclusively to designate Gautama Buddha
prior to his enlightenment.

The concept of bodhisattva, along with
that of Buddha and of the cakravartin
(world-ruler), was in vogue in India even before the appearance of Gautama
Buddha. When Prince Siddhartha, who later became Gautama Buddha, took
conception in the womb of Queen Maya, a seer predicted that Suddhodana's
future son would be either a world-ruler (cakravartin)
or a Buddha. Once, answering a question by a Brahmin, the Buddha himself
admitted that he is neither a god nor a
yakkha, but a Buddha, meaning thereby one of a succession of
Buddhas (A. II, p. 38).

states that the teaching it contains is
not of a single Buddha but of all the Buddhas. The Amagandha Sutta is
similarly recorded as a discourse not of Gautama Buddha but of a past
Buddha named Kassapa (Sn. vv. 239 ff.).

Sammasambodhi or Perfect Enlightenment is an impersonal universal
phenomenon occurring in a particular context both in time and in space and
a Buddha is thus a person who
re-discovers the Dhamma, which had become lost to the world and
proclaims it anew (Pug. p. 29). When Gautama Buddha appeared, however, he
himself as well as others used the term bodhisattva to indicate his career
from the time of his renunciation up to the time of his enlightenment.
Later, its use was extended to denote the period from Gautama's conception
to the enlightenment and, thereafter, to all the Buddhas from their
conception to Buddhahood. By applying the doctrine of
karma and of rebirth, which had
general acceptance even in pre-Buddhist India, the use of the term was
further extended to refer to the past lives not only of Gautama Buddha,
but also of those rare beings who aspire for Perfect Enlightenment.

The oldest Theravada tradition, as
contained, for example, in the Mahapadana Suttanta (D. ii, p. 1) gives
details of six Buddhas prior to Gautama. This discourse is attributed to
the Buddha himself, who gives the time, caste, family, length of life etc.
of these predecessors of his. In the Buddhavamsa, a later work belonging
to the Khuddaka Nikaya, the number increases to twenty-five with Gautama
Buddha as the last and this number remains fixed in Theravada tradition.

However, these enumerations by no means
imply that they are exhaustive. In the Mahapadana Suttanta the Buddha
starts the story of the six Buddhas merely by saying that ninety-one
kappas ago there was such and such
a Buddha, implying thereby that such beings were not limited in number.
From this it follows that, if the Buddhas are innumerable, the
bodhisattvas too must be innumerable.

When prince Siddhartha attained
Enlightenment he did so as a human being and lived and passed away as
such. As mentioned earlier, he himself admitted that he was a Buddha and
not a deva or any such
supernatural being. He was only the discoverer of a lost teaching. His
greatness was that he found out what his contemporaries could not discover
at all or discovered only incompletely. He was a genius by birth who
achieved the highest state possible for man. Both intellectually and
morally he was a great man, a superman (mahapurisa).
In all the stages of his life, from conception onwards, something
extraordinary was seen in him.

In order to understand who a bodhisattva
is, it would be useful to explain briefly who a Buddha is. The
Buddha-concept in Theravada Buddhism is not a personality cult; neither is
the Buddha an object of glorified devotion. He is neither a theoretical
metaphysician nor a materialist. He is not a religious teacher who demands
unquestioned loyalty like a Messiah. He is a man who has perfected himself
by realising his 'self' to the highest degree possible for man. Only a man
can become a Buddha.

There may be other supernatural beings
inhabiting perhaps other planets in a given solar system. But they are not
capable of becoming fully enlightened unless there are planets similar to
our own where humans live. Even if such beings are leading happier lives
in their non-human spheres, still they are subject to the laws of change
and evolution (anicca or
vaya-dhamma), and as such not free
from birth and death and their attendant conflicts: hence they are not
released from dukkha.

A Buddha is a human being who has realised
that there is a happier state than this world of conditioned phenomena.
After a persevering mental struggle, he realises this unconditioned state
(asankhata) which is free from
duality. This freedom from duality implies the absence of any conflict (dukkha).
Therefore, this state is described as free from both sorrow and happiness
in the ordinary sense. It is the highest happiness (parama-sukha)
in the transcendental sense. As such it is not subject to change and is,
therefore, imperishable (avyaya)
and, therefore, permanent (dhuva).
It is this that is described as Nirvana.
The Buddha is the person who realised this for the first time by his own
effort and proclaimed it to the world and hence, he is the Teacher (sattha).
Arhants are his disciples who follow his teaching. Bodhisattvas are those
who aspire to be fully enlightened ones or Buddhas, in preference to
merely becoming arhants.

Strictly speaking, the life of the Buddha
commenced only from the time of his enlightenment and his life before this
event was that of the bodhisattva. The Buddha himself used the term in
this sense and, it is more than probable that he occasionally referred to
his previous existences in his discourses to the people in order to
elucidate a particular doctrinal point. The Jatakas found in the
Sutta Pitaka such as the
Mahagovinda Sutta (D. II, pp. 220 ff.), the Mahasudassana Sutta (D. II,
pp. 169 ff.) and the Makhadeva Sutta (M. II, 74 ff.) etc. bear out this
view. Besides these, there seems to have been neither a Jataka collection
as such, nor the developed concept of the bodhisattva practising
paramitas, until a much later
period. Hence it would appear that the concept of the bodhisattva could be
divided into two parts, the original concept and the concept developed by
later Buddhists.

The division of Schools which began at the
second Council with the separation of the Mahasanghikas also made its
contribution to the development of the bodhisattva cult in later
literature as it marked the remote beginnings of Mahayana Buddhism.

The earliest use of the term bodhisattva
in literature seems to be when the Buddha refers to the days prior to his
enlightenment, in such contexts as "in the days before my enlightenment"
or "when as yet I was only a bodhisattva" (M. 1, pp. 114, 163; M. III,
p. 119). Then, we have the Pali suttas referred to above, in which the
Buddha recounts a previous existence of his after the fashion of the later
Jataka stories. In the Buddhavamsa and in the later commentaries we see
how the concept has been extended not only in relation to Gautama's own
previous lives, but also as a general concept.

In the Buddhavamsa which belongs to the
Khuddaka-nikaya of the Pali Canon, are found the life-stories of
twenty-five Buddhas of whom Gautama was the last. The names by which he
was known during his "apprenticeship" as a bodhisattva under each of the
twenty-four Buddhas, are also given. The chronicle describes the ten
paramitas, the eight conditions
necessary for the fulfillment of Buddhahood and the bodhisattva's decision
to postpone his entry into Nibbana. The other early work that describes
the bodhisattva's career is the Mahavastu (circa 1st or 2nd century BCE),
a Sanskrit work of the Mahasanghikas.

Since the Buddha's teaching is not
fatalistic but a course of mental training implying constant change until
the realisation of the unconditioned state of Nirvana, everyone has the
ability not merely to attain release but also to be authoritative teachers
(i.e., perfect Buddhas) as well. People with lesser ability may rest
content with mere arhantship or by becoming Pratyeka Buddhas.

Just as the Theravadins in course of time
began to lay greater stress on intellectual development than on religious
practice and realisation, those who advocated the bodhisattva ideal, as a
protest against the theoretical teaching of the Theravadins, went to the
other extreme of making it too practical by making the bodhisattva
somewhat like a saviour as exemplified by Avalokitesvara. Everyone tries
to be a Buddha to save others while passively believing in the saving
grace of the bodhisattvas. The pendulum swung from one extreme to the
other. Gautama Buddha's teaching of practical psychological ethics and
that of the avoidance of extremes was falling into oblivion.

In this evolution of thought the
altruistic motives which had become more or less mere intellectual
concepts among the Theravadins began to be greatly emphasised. As a
result, individual responsibility, on which the Buddha has laid great
stress, began to be overlooked. This tendency was developed to its
extreme, specially in the Far East, the results of which are to be seen in
the concept of Buddha Amitabha and of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara as
embodiments of compassion, an all-merciful divine father, whose sole aim
is to deliver all living beings from suffering.

This development was the natural result of
the intrinsic human nature which seeks for external protection and
consolation either in a male or a female divinity. It is an extension of
the father-mother concept and can be found in any developed religious
system. But Gautama Buddha firmly believed that Buddhas are only
pathfinders and teachers who, out of compassion for all living beings,
preach the doctrine of deliverance which has to be individually realised
by the wise. As such, the idea of salvation, except through the teaching
which every person has to follow individually, is foreign to him. This is
why the Buddha's teaching is regarded as too demanding in practice.

It was shown earlier how, by the
application of the doctrines of karma and rebirth, the life of the
bodhisattva was extended backwards to an innumerable number of existences.
The doctrine of karma implies that intellectual and moral greatness cannot
be produced without great effort. The necessary training and discipline
cannot be practised to perfection in a single lifetime. However, this did
not mean that enlightenment could not be obtained in a given time. On the
contrary, it was often asserted that such attainment is possible in this
very life (dittheva dhamme)
provided the devotee has the required qualification for arhantship and it
is the duty of every follower to attempt such achievement.

It is of interest to see how the concept
of the bodhisattva has developed down the ages. The historical facts about
the Buddha are not difficult to determine. He began his life as
Siddhartha, son of a local rajah in north India in the 6th century BCE. At
first he quite enjoyed sensual pleasures but his attitude to such
self-indulgence was quite different from that of the ordinary man. Even
while enjoying pleasure, he intuitively felt that true and lasting
happiness could never be found by giving into each and every sensual
attraction. That would lead to moral and intellectual ruin, resulting in
becoming subject to more and more suffering. He was sure of this.

He got married and begot a son and still
he felt that that was not the ultimate fulfillment of human life. His
inner urge could not stop at anything short of full and complete
self-realisation, not only for his own private release, but also for the
good of humanity as a whole. This made him think. First he took to a
self-mortifying life, and when that failed, he, after a severe mental
struggle, achieved perfection by becoming a Buddha and then a teacher.

During the rest of his career of
forty-five years, he gave his findings to the rest of humanity by oral
preaching (dhamma-desana), which
was the best method of disseminating knowledge in those days when writing
and reading of books were not common. There was nothing mystic about the
Buddha. He was a practical man, a psychiatrist who, after realising the
cause of man's troubles, was eager to convey the benefits of his
realisation to the rest of humanity, which he did quite successfully.

There is no reason to doubt these simple
facts of history. But, in course of time, these facts became mixed up with
much legend and the Buddha's teaching became more or less a devotional
cult. Its rationalistic and practical nature began to go underground. The
higher life (brahmacariya) was
thought of as something impracticable and gradually Buddhism lost its
pragmatic character. Coupled with these tendencies there was the inborn
human need for a father-figure or a mother-figure to fall back upon. All
these led to the creation of a Buddhology.

For the artist, literary as well as
plastic, the Buddha became an object of study and devotion. He was
analysed from every possible angle and various theories regarding his
career were evolved as for instance, when the original triple
classification (of the path of release)
sila (morality), samadhi
(mind-culture) and panna (wisdom)
was resolved into ten paramitas.
The bodhisattva became a special kind of Godlike character, the like of
whom could hardly be an actuality. It was as a part of this development
that the main events of the bodhisattva's life were portrayed as being
accompanied by miracles.

A bodhisattva's career should start with
his making a resolution before a Buddha (abhinihara-karana
or mslapranidhana) to become a
Buddha for the welfare and liberation of all creatures. In later
literature this abhinihara is
preceded by a period during which the bodhisattva practises
manopranidhi, when he resolves in
his mind a desire to become a Buddha without declaring his intention to
others.

Even for the
abhinihara or the first resolve to
become a Buddha to be effective, eight conditions have to be fulfilled.
These are that the aspirant should be a human being, a male, sufficiently
developed spiritually to become an arhant in that very life, a recluse at
the time of the declaration, that he should make the resolution personally
before a Buddha, that he should possess the
jhanas and be prepared to
sacrifice even his life. The resolution has to be absolutely firm.

There are eighteen inauspicious states
into which a bodhisattva is not born. He is never born blind, deaf,
insane, crippled, among savages, as a slave or as a heretic. He never
changes his sex, is never guilty of the five heinous crimes which become
immediately effective (anantarika-kamma)
and he never becomes a leper. Should he be born as an animal he is never
born bigger than an elephant or smaller than a quail. He is not born as a
peta or in
Avici nor in the hells known as
lokantarika, which are eternally
dark. He is not born as a Mara nor as a Suddhavasa
deva, nor in the Formless (arspa)
worlds, nor in another cakkavala
(SnA. I, pp. 50 ff.).

According to J. VI, p. 552 all
bodhisattvas must make the five great sacrifices (mahapariccaga)
of giving up wife, children, kingdom, life, and limb.

The Buddha, before whom the
abhinihara is made, looks into the
future and, if satisfied, declares the fulfillment of the wish, giving all
the particulars of such fulfillment. This declaration is called
veyyakarana (Skt.
vyakarana) and is made also by all
subsequent Buddhas whom the bodhisattva meets during his career. From here
onwards, till he attains Enlightenment, all his activities are directed
towards the practice of the perfections (paramitas).
As mentioned earlier, these perfections were later enumerations and there
are slight differences between the Pali and the Sanskrit lists. However,
their theme is the same, which is ethical perfection.

Originally, there seem to have been only
six paramitas which were later
made into a group of ten. The earlier six, as given in Buddhist Sanskrit
works, are as follows: dana
(liberality), sila (morality),
khanti (patience),
viriya (energy),
dhyana (concentration) and
panna (wisdom). The four
supplementary paramitas are
upaya or
upaya kausalya (skill in means),
pranidhana (resolution),
bala (strength) and
jnana (knowledge: Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine In Buddhist
Sanskrit Literature, London, 1932, p. 168). In the Pali list there is
nekkhamma (renunciation) instead
of dhyana while
upaya,
bala and
jnana are replaced by
sacca (truthfulness),
metta (loving-kindness) and
upekkha, (equanimity)
respectively.

The length of a bodhisattva's career
varies: some practise the paramitas
for at least four asankheyyas and
one hundred thousand kappas,
others for at least eight asankheyyas
and one hundred thousand kappas
and yet others for sixteen asankheyyas
and one hundred thousand kappas.
The first of these periods is the very least required and is intended for
those who excel in wisdom (panna),
the middle period for those who excel in faith (saddha)
and the last and the longest for those whose chief feature is
perseverance.

An important event in the bodhisattva's
life that occurs when he spends his penultimate life in the Tusita heaven
is coming to the conclusion that he should leave the Tusita heaven and be
reborn as a man. As this moment arrives, there is much excitement (halahala),
because of various signs appearing in the ten-thousand world-systems.

All the
devas come together and request the bodhisattva to seek birth as a
human being, whereupon the bodhisattva makes the five great investigations
(panca-maha-vilokana) regarding
the time, the continent, the place of birth, his mother and the life span
left to her. The time (kala) has
to be investigated because Buddhas do not appear in the world when men
live for more than one hundred thousand years or less than one hundred.
Buddhas are born only in Jambudvipa (north India) and only in the
brahmana or the
khattiya clan. Once these
investigations are made the bodhisattva proceeds to the Nandanavana where
he formally disappears from among the
devas.

The conception of the bodhisattva is
attended by various miracles. Both in Pali and Sanskrit sources an attempt
is made to show that at the actual moment of conception there is no
physical union of father and mother. With regard to the general life of a
bodhisattva as given in the books, the following account from the
Dictionary of Pali proper Names, G.P. Malalasekera (II, pp. 3247), may be
quoted: "On the day of his conception, the Bodhisattva's mother takes the
vows of fasting and celibacy at the conclusion of a great festival, and
when she has retired to rest she dreams that the Four Regent Gods take her
with her bed, bathe her in the Anotatta lake, clad her in divine garments
and place her in a golden palace surrounded by all kinds of luxury. As she
lies there the Bodhisattva in the form of a white elephant enters her womb
through her right side. The earth trembles and all the ten thousand
world-systems are filled with radiance. Immediately the four Regent Gods
assume guard over mother and child.

"Throughout the period of pregnancy, which
lasts for ten months exactly, the mother remains free from ailment and
sees the child in her womb sitting cross-legged. At the end of the ten
months she gives birth to the child, standing in a grove, never indoors.
Suddhavasa brahmas, free from all passion, first receive the child in a
golden net and from them the Four Regent Gods take him on an antelope skin
and present him to his mother.

"Though the bodhisattva is born free of
the mucous otherwise present at birth, two showers of water, one hot, the
other cold, fall from the sky and bathe mother and child. The child then
takes seven strides to the north, standing firmly on his feet, looks on
all sides, and seeing no one anywhere to equal him, announces his
supremacy over the whole world and the fact that this is his last birth.
Seven days after birth his mother dies. She dies because she must bear no
other being.

"The Bodhisattva's last birth is attended
by miracles. Soothsayers, being summoned, see on the child's body the
thirty-two marks of a Great Man (mahapurisa)
and declare that the child will become either a Cakkavatti or a Buddha.
His father, desiring that his child shall be a Cakkavatti, rather than a
Buddha, brings him up in great luxury, hiding from him all sin and
ugliness of the world. But the destiny of a Bodhisattva asserts itself,
and he becomes aware of the presence in the world of old age, disease,
death, and the freedom of mind to be found in the life of a recluse. Urged
by the desire to discover the cause of suffering in the world and the way
out of it, the Bodhisatta leaves the world on the day of his son's birth.

" Having left the world, the Bodhisattva
practises the austerities, the period of such practices varying... On the
day the Bodhisattva attains to Buddhahood, he receives a meal of milk-rice
(payasa) from a woman and a gift
of kusa-grass, generally from an
Ajivaka,
which he spreads under the Bodhi tree for his seat. The size of this seat
varies.

"Before the enlightenment the Bodhisattva
has five great dreams: (i) that the world is his couch with the Himalay√
as his pillow, his left hand resting on the eastern sea, his right on the
western and his feet on the southern; (ii) that a blade of
tiriya (kusa)
grass, growing from his navel touches the clouds; (iii) that white worms
with black heads creep up from his feet, covering his knees; (iv) that
four birds of varied hues from the four quarters of the world fall at his
feet and become white; (v) that he walks to and fro on a heap of dung, by
which he remains unsoiled.

" The next day the Bodhisattva sits
cross-legged on his seat facing the east, determined not to rise till he
has attained his goal. The gods of all the worlds assemble to do him
honour, but Mara comes with his mighty hosts and the gods flee. All day,
the fight continues between Mara and the Bodhisattva; the parami alone are
present to lend their aid to the Bodhisattva, and when the moment comes,
the goddess of the earth bears witness to his great sacrifices, while Mara
and his armies retire discomfited at the hour of sunset, the gods then
returning and singing a paean of victory.

"Meanwhile the bodhisattva spends the
night in deep concentration; during the first watch he acquires knowledge
of past lives, during the second watch he develops the divine eye, while
during the last watch he ponders over and comprehends the Paticcasamuppada
doctrine. Backwards and forwards his mind travels over the chain of
causation and twelve times the earth trembles. With sunrise, omniscience
dawns on him, and he becomes the Supremely Awakened Buddha, uttering his
udana of victory while the whole
world rejoices with him."

If the bodhisattva ideal of the Mahayana
be regarded as a protest against the arhant ideal of the Hinayana, there
is an important fact that needs clarification. This is the charge of
selfishness brought against the arhant. In this connection there is much
misunderstanding. The charge of selfishness has to be leveled not against
the arhants but against those Theravada monks who have portrayed
arhantship as a selfish ideal by their own behaviour and writings and
thereby made the higher religious life (brahmacariya
or adhisila) appear as something
unpracticable.

The Buddha has clearly shown, both by
example and precept, the value of working for the welfare of others. The
spirit of his teaching is that one should enlighten oneself first and then
try to help those that can be helped as clearly expressed in the
well-known words of the Buddha when he addressed the first sixty arhants
to devote themselves to the service of others (Vin. 1, pp. 1920). He also
discouraged mere philosophy and speculation if it had no practical value.

But, quite in contrast to this noble
example of the Teacher, his later followers, instead of following by
practice the religious life he discovered and promulgated, began to make
mere academic study thereof as an end in itself. They became speculators
and philosophers, with very little practice. The Hinayana monk became more
or less a fossilised antique living in a world of his own.

The protest of the Mahayanist was against
this fossilisation and resultant indolence, and not against the arhant
ideal as such. The Buddha and arhants who helped mankind after they had
achieved their own release, have to be absolved of this charge of
selfishness. Yet, on the other hand, when the bodhisattva ideal was
advocated, the pendulum swung to the other extreme of mere bodhisattva
worship. The extreme intellectualism of the Hinayana was replaced by the
extreme emotionalism of developed Mahayana. The true spirit of the
Buddha's teaching lies in between, in a harmonious combination of
intellect and emotion, of head and heart, of theory and practice. That
would be the perfection of character as understood in Buddhism.

The Pali Canon shows little interest
either in philosophical speculation or in the personality of the
bodhisattvas who are simply treated as "larval forms" of the Buddha.
Gautama himself would not have denied the possibility of becoming a Buddha
to anyone who is intellectually and morally mature. The significant fact
is that it became quite incredible that a superior being such as a Buddha
should suddenly be produced in a human family. He was not to be explained
as an incarnation. Hence it was quite logical and edifying to treat him as
a product of a long evolution of virtue, extending over several existences
of good deeds and noble aspirations, culminating in a being superior to
both gods and men.

Such a being remains in the Tusita heaven
in his penultimate existence biding the appropriate time to be born among
men. In this manner the Pali Canon, quite logically, recognises the
bodhisattva as a rare type of man appearing at a certain stage in time and
space. It leaves the matter at that. But later works like the
Buddhavamsa,
Cariyapitaka, the Pali
commentaries and the Mahayana sstras went on developing the bodhisattva
concept in such a way that he became an object of devotion and his human
nature gradually disappeared. The Mahayanists, in trying to remedy the
situation, ended up by making him a saviour.

According to the Hinayana view, the
bodhisattva's penultimate life is spent in the Tusita heaven where he
enjoys the power and splendour of any Indian deity. But, as it did not
admit more than one Buddha at a time, there was evidently also only one
bodhisattva at a time in Tusita. In Mahayana, however, the multiplication
of not only celestial Buddhas but also of celestial bodhisattvas became
such a popular theme that as time went on their numbers became endless.

The bodhisattva ideal, with its more
practical attitude to life, emphasises the value of family life.
Renunciation of household life never meant running away from life. Nirvana
was to be sought not outside samsara
but within it. Gautama Buddha never recommended a 'life of aloofness or of
perennial seclusion.' He was not an escapist and wanted none to be so.
What he taught was that owing to ignorance (avijja),
people do not see things as they really are, and as such they are given to
their desires, which in turn prolong their suffering. His method was to
remove this veil of ignorance so that there would be light.

It is the removal of mental illusion,
resulting in a psychological revolution, which makes one free from the
trammels of ordinary birth, disease and death. This cannot be achieved by
running away from life. The problem has to be solved by facing and
overcoming it, by changing the inner self, the mind where lies the cause
of the problem. It is a change of attitude and outlook, resulting from the
removal of ignorance. Such a person lives in the world, but is not of the
world.

If a person can become enlightened after
leading a family life, as prince Siddhartha himself did, he would
certainly be a more useful man than a sanctimonious ascetic living in the
jungle. And it is this kind of pure social life that the bodhisattva ideal
recommends. The ancient emphasis on inward life is given a new
application. The godly and efficient layman so envisaged is exemplified in
the figure of Vimalakirti, described in the
Vimalakirtinirdesa.

This wealthy householder who was residing
at Vaisali, lived "only for the sake of the necessary means of saving
creatures; abundantly rich, ever careful of the poor, pure in
self-discipline, obedient to all precepts, removing all anger by the
practice of patience, removing all sloth by the practice of diligence,
removing all distractions of mind by intent meditation, removing all
ignorance by fullness of wisdom; though he was but a simple layman, yet
observing the pure monastic discipline; though living at home, yet never
desirous of anything; though possessing a wife and children, always
exercising pure virtues; though surrounded by his family, holding aloof
from worldly pleasures; though using the jeweled ornaments of the world,
yet adorned with spiritual splendour; though eating and drinking, yet
enjoying the flavour of the rapture of meditation; though frequenting the
gambling house, yet leading the gamblers into the right path; though
coming in contact with heresy, yet never letting his true faith be
impaired; though having a profound knowledge of worldly learning, yet ever
finding pleasure in the things of the spirit as taught by the Buddha;
though profiting by all professions, yet far above being absorbed by them;
benefitting all beings, going wheresoever he pleases; ever teaching the
young and ignorant, when entering the hall of learning; manifesting to all
the error of passion when in the hours of debauchery; persuading all to
seek the higher things when at the shop of the wine-dealer; preaching the
law when among wealthy people; teaching the katriyas patience; removing
arrogance when among Brahmans; teaching justice to the great ministers;
teaching loyalty and filial piety to the princes; teaching honesty to the
ladies of the court; persuading the masses to cherish virtue."

The bodhisattva concept had its influence
in the evolution of kingship in Sri Lanka, too. For some time between the
fourth and the eleventh centuries CE, the kings of Sri Lanka began to be
regarded not as ordinary human beings but as bodhisattvas. The
Jetavanarama slab-inscription of Mahinda IV and the Pritidanakamanapa
inscription of Nissanka Malla are instances where the rulers refer to
themselves as bodhisattvas. The Rajatarangani (p. 470 and the
Nikayasamgrahava, ed. Kumaranatunga, p. 24) also bear evidence to this.
Parakramabahu II says that he would become a Buddha (Mahavamsa, ch. 86,
stz. 7).

Charles Eliot mentions that in China there
is a system of admission into the Order consisting of three stages:
admission (pabbajja), higher
ordination (upasampada) and the acceptance of the bodhisattva vows (shou-pu-sa-chich).
The burning of the candidate's head from three to eighteen places is said
to be an essential part of the ceremony of taking the bodhisattva-vows (Hinduism
and Buddhism, Ill, p. 328).

The worship of bodhisattvas needed
iconographical representation and this need has been more than fulfilled
by the creation of an abundance of bodhisattva images, especially in those
countries that accepted Mahayana. Buddhist art became the richer through
these artistic creations. In the subsequent phases of the bodhisattva-cult
these deified personages were given many forms in order to symbolise their
multifarious functions. Sometimes they were given many heads and many arms
which practice has sometimes led to the creation of such figures as
exemplified by the thousand-armed Avalokitesvara from Japan.

The Buddhist Publication Society is an
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which has a vital message for people of all creeds.

Founded in 1958, the BPS has published a
wide variety of books and booklets covering a great range of topics. Its
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